


Sometimes to go Left, a Few Things Have to go Wrong

by hellsyeah



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternative Universe - NASCAR, F/M, M/M, nascar au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2013-10-11
Packaged: 2017-12-18 01:23:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/874074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellsyeah/pseuds/hellsyeah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Day one Prompt fill- AU Sabriel Week 2013) Sam Winchester is the driver with a misfit crew and thanks to some idiotic events his team loses their sponsor. With the championship race on the line they have to find a new sponsor, Sam's just not too sure about the business' owner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

                3 laps to go. He was in second place, 2.34 seconds behind, and unless he got a last minute speed boost, he was crossing the finish line in this spot. He came around on the inside, turn four, 2 laps to go, 1.87 seconds behind, the first place car makes a mistake, they take the outside, checkered flag. Turn two, final lap, 1.02 seconds behind, it’s not looking good. Turn four, they’re nose to nose, finish line dead ahead. It’s all over, he’s lost, just .4 seconds behind the leader, and it was a close call.

                The driver of car number 52, our second place driver, pulled himself out of the window with practiced ease. He laughed as the reporter’s eyes widened, waiting for him on the other side of the wall with his crew, the media were often surprised about his size; it wasn’t often that a man over six feet drove in these races, never mind a man that tall who was good at the job. His crew chief smiled at him once he got the helmet over his head and smoothed down his hair, which was sweaty and tangled, but it didn’t matter. He pulled the older man into a quick hug, laughing as the man had to reach up and grab his cap to keep it on his head.

                “I swear boy, you keep this up we’re going to win the championship race,” Bobby’s smile was fond even as he was pushed out of the way and another body took his place. Sam gripped his brother to keep from falling against the car as Dean laughed into his shoulder.

                “Dude you so had that guy, two more seconds and that race woulda been yours,” Dean pulled back to glare around the crowd toward the victory circle, where the race winner was talking into a camera. Sam’s attention was torn from his brother when the reporter from earlier tapped his shoulder to get a few statements about the race, how he prepares for them, how it felt to lose, and of course get a good shot of the sponsored car and uniforms.

 

                Once they were allowed to pack up and head back home Sam stripped out of the red and white coveralls, brandished with his team’s sponsored logo. Their sponsor was a chain of restaurants throughout the country and Sam knew his team was really lucky to have them. They’d sponsored them for the last couple years even if Sam wasn’t big on their greasy food, the money was necessary to keep his job and crew running. He hadn’t wanted to be a NASCAR driver when he was younger, it hadn’t appealed to him until he was in his late teens, having learned everything there was to know about cars from his adoptive father Bobby and his brother Dean. They had been arguing over what to do with an old junker in the garage when Ash came running in grinning and ranting about the newest car they just got in, an old racer that just needed a tune up but the owner didn’t want her anymore since he’d given up interest. That’s when Sam’s attention was sparked, and seven years later he’s got three years NASCAR racing experience under his belt.

                He couldn’t do it alone, not a chance, so he gathered a pit crew, ten people he trusted with his safety and around a car. It wasn’t particularly hard to find that many people, but an average crew is around 14 people, so his is small but he’s not ashamed of it nor does he think he needs anymore people.

                First of course was Bobby, his father figure and the best match for crew chief. Bobby had called him an idjit and hit him with a newspaper when he’d asked the man to take the job, but Sam saw the way his cheeks reddened to know that the man had been flattered that Sam had asked.

                Then Sam put together his pit crew, starting with his brother Dean. Dean became the jack man, because he was the one Sam trusted to watch over the pit directly and send him off to the track again. Then came Ash, who became the gas man. Dean and Ash are both also the main ones in charge of keeping the car in perfect condition even when it’s not being raced. The tire changers for the pit crew are Jo, Benny, Kevin, and Brady. Occasionally Rufus is allowed on the track to clear the windshield or to add extra window visors to help block the sun at certain tracks. Garth and Andy were the last to round out his crew, making it an even ten; both of them working behind the gate with Bobby to keep everything in line and the pit crew ready.

                When the truck and serious of vehicles pulled back into Bobby’s after a six hour drive everyone was exhausted and most people left automatically to get back to their own houses, leaving Sam, Dean, Bobby, Jo, Ash, and Benny, all at Bobby’s for the night. Bobby had moved to Kansas after Mary died, coming to help John raise Sam and Dean and had stayed there after John died, adopting the boys as his own.  Once Sam and the team started making good money Sam invested in a bigger house, yet it was still Bobby’s, he’d bought it for him and let Bobby have the master suite, instead sharing the upstairs floor with his brother.  After patting his brother on the back again and wishing everyone goodnight, Dean pulled Benny up the stairs to his room for bed.

                “You two crashing on the couch bed tonight then?” Bobby asked Jo, who was sipping a beer at the kitchen table. She nodded looking towards the living room where Ash was moving the furniture around carefully to make room to pull the bed out.

                “Yeah, we’ll head home in the morning probably.” She grinned at Bobby as she stood and walked around the table to hug him around the neck, squeezing him close. “You get to sleep old man; you need your beauty rest.”

                Bobby blushed red and glared over at Sam who was leaning on the counter, “Yeah yeah, night children.” Bobby shuffled down the hallway and into his room, leaving Sam and Jo in the kitchen. Sam ruffled Jo’s hair as he walked by and called out a goodnight to both her and Ash as he walked up the stairs to his room.

                The next morning Sam woke up to Benny coming into his room and flicking on his light. He groaned and pushed his face into the pillow, muttering something about how ‘if my brother didn’t like you so much I swear I’d throw you out a window’ but Benny just laughed and told him to get his ass downstairs, apparently something’s happened. Sam crawled out of bed and waved a hand at Benny, though the blond didn’t leave the doorway until Sam pulled on a pair of sweats and shuffled down after him. Everyone was gathered in the kitchen, Bobby was leaning against the counter, Ash and Dean were sitting at the table, and Jo perched on Dean’s lap. Benny smiled as he came in, dropping into the seat next to Ash and patting his lap for Sam who rolled his eyes and took the seat at the end of the table.

                “I take it from the sounds that sleeping beauty has joined us?” A thick British accent gave Crowley away even before he walked into the room from the library, moving to stand next to Bobby and placing a hand on the other man’s hip, though it was pushed away a second later. Crowley just smiled and shrugged, turning back to the group at the table. Crowley and Bobby had had a thing for years, Sam’s sure it must have started back when he was still a pre-teen, before John died. Crowley was a big name in the world of business though even after all this time none of them were exactly sure of what it was he did. He managed a lot of the business for the crew, so his being here meant something had either happened or was going too.

                “What’s going on Crowley? You don’t usually stall this long.” Dean yawned into Jo’s arm, earning a whack on the head. Crowley sighed and ran a hand along his jaw.

                “I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Well actually, I usually don’t care, but I like you people for some reason.” Bobby elbowed him in the side and he continued. “Your biggest sponsor called this morning,” Sam stiffened in his seat and it seemed like the whole room grew tense, “They’ve decided to drop you. You need to repaint the cars and get rid of the gear within the next week or so.”

                The silence in the room stretched, Sam felt something in his chest snap and stared at the table. Ash shifted to sit up straighter to let Jo move to his lap when Dean stood to his feet. She pressed back against Ash and gripped his wrist as Dean slammed his fist onto the table.

                “Why the fuck would they drop us?” Benny stood to walk around and grab one of Dean’s shoulders, just holding it there, keeping Dean grounded. Crowley sighed again, looking more serious than he had all morning.

                “The company got a new owner after the only one retired, and this new guy is apparently not a fan of a few of our crew member’s ‘alternative lifestyles’ so they dropped us.” Bobby didn’t push Crowley’s arm away this time. Sam looked up just in time to see the way the words hit his older brother, watching as he nearly stumbled back into Benny’s chest. Benny wrapped an arm around his middle and shook his head, whispering something in his boyfriend’s ear.

                “That’s bullshit man! They can’t do that!” Ash frowned. “That’s such a medieval way of thinking; I can’t stand assholes like that.”

                “Technically there’s nothing in our contract that said they couldn’t do it,” Sam mumbled, “I remember reading it. We basically agreed that they could drop us without warning for little to no reason.”

                “The moose is right guys,” Crowley tucked his free hand into his pocket, “as much as I’d like to sue the pretentious bastard, there’s nothing I can do.” Silence filled the room again for a minute or two before Jo groaned and covered her face with her hands.

                “The next race is in two weeks, how are we supposed to find a sponsor, get new suits, and get the car painted in time?” She smoothed her hair out of her face as Ash smoothed a thumb across the back of her other hand.

                “Dean and I can paint a car in less than a day, and Kevin’s got connections with a few people and with Crowley’s business knowledge the other two will be relatively okay.” Ash shrugged with a grim smile, yet Sam was really grateful for his attempt.

                “We’ll figure it out. Even if I have to miss the next race,” Sam hated missing races but he’s sure he could claim some family trouble or something as an excuse.           

                “No can do kid, if you miss that one you’ll not be eligible for the championship race.” Bobby scratched his beard and frowned when Sam’s forehead hit the table again.

 

                The next week didn’t hold many results, every time Crowley got a business to consider then they decided they didn’t have the money to put into the investment. Sam was feeling more and more disheartened, and he’d quit shaving a few days ago, growing himself a nice amount of scruff for the short amount of time. Dean kept trying to take responsibility for the sponsorship drop even though Sam kept reminding him that he wasn’t the only one on the team who wasn’t straight. At least five of the team members weren’t, Sam included.

                He ignored his brothers grumbling now though, knowing it was no use and Dean would get over it as soon as they got a new sponsor. Instead he left the house to go for a walk, just to try and clear his head and two hours later was still out walking through town. A building caught his eye; a large sign on the front of it that said “Angel’s” and a set of stained glass window’s adorned the front of the building. Sam rolled up the sleeves of his red flannel shirt and walked closer, noticing it was a restaurant. It didn’t look like a fancy place when Sam entered the building so he relaxed; the whole place had the feeling of a small town diner, despite the appearance from the outside. He walked to the back of the place, sitting in the empty corner booth and looking out the window. A few moments later a cheery voice broke him out of his silence when they called his name. He looked up into the face of Charlie Bradbury, who smiled and waved at him. Charlie had gone to the same high school as both Winchesters, though she had been two years below Sam, and had earned her place as one of their closest friends when she whacked Dean over the head with a plastic sword when he tried to hit on her girlfriend. It wasn’t funny to Dean at the time, but her and Sam had connected right away and Dean had come around a week later. Her red hair was pulled back into a pony-tail, she had on a red polo and a knee-length black skit, Sam couldn’t see her shoes as she plopped down beside him in the booth.

                “I didn’t know you had a job.” Sam cringed as Charlie smacked him with the notebook in her hand, the one she was supposed to be taking orders with.

                “Hello to you too, rude ass,” she turned to face him as best as she could in the booth and propped her elbows on the table, “you look like shit. What’s going on?” Sam scowled at her and attempted to smooth his hair down.

                “Shouldn’t you be working?” Sam pressed as close to the end of the booth as he could, trying unsuccessfully to avoid Charlie’s gaze.

                “Don’t change the subject Winchester. Plus, I’m sure my boss would understand if he saw your face.” She grinned when he grumbled insults under his breath.

                He sighed, “Our sponsor dropped us and we’ve got less than a week to find a willing sponsor or we’re out of the championship race. We’ve tried so many different places; no one has the money to spare. It’s not even a lot of money! We’ve got our own garage and the guys do all the repairs. And not to mention the small sponsors fund a majority of everything, we’re basically giving away advertisement space and no one’s taking it.” Charlie made a humming sound and patted Sam’s hair before sliding out of the booth and motioning at him to stay when he gave her an incredulous look.

                Sam sat at the booth for a few more minutes, and in that time he made himself a pretty nice pile of torn bits of napkin to spite Charlie for leaving him there. A child behind him looked over his shoulder and pointed out where he needed to add more pieces to make it even and he indulged the kid until his mother told him to ‘leave the poor sad man alone’. Sam went back to grumbling under his breath after that, even when he felt Charlie drop back next to him. He only stopped when someone slid into the other side of the booth. Sam looked up slowly, meeting clear blue eyes and feeling embarrassed about his napkin pile. The man across from them was wearing a dark blue button down with the first few buttons undone, exposing his chest. He had a handsome face, though his face was focused on Sam’s at the moment, studying him too, with the before mentioned blue eyes and perfectly styled blond curls on his head. Sam was not afraid at all to admit the man was very attractive, but didn’t exactly look to friendly at the moment. The man cleared his throat and placed his hands on the table.

                “Sam right?” When Sam nodded, after being momentarily shocked by the man’s British accent, it reminded him almost of Crowley, he continued, “I hear you’ve gotten yourself in a predicament, and I’m curious as to what you’re exactly looking for.” Sam blinked again.

                “I’m a NASCAR driver…” Sam trailed off when the man looked bored and waved a hand at Sam to silence him.

                “No, I know all those things. You lost a sponsor, you need one fast, no races for you, boohoo, and all that stuff, am I right?” Sam frowned at Charlie but she just grinned at him. “The advertisement space is what I’m interested in. You’re pretty lucky that our little Charlie overheard the owner of this place and I discussing how to get more business to our little chain a few days ago and then walked right in here when she was working.” Charlie tried to defend herself by pointing out that if they had just called her when they found out this conversation could have happened sooner.

                “You’re interested in being our sponsor? That’s fantastic Mr…?” The man smiled.

                “Roche, Balthazar Roche. And yes, Sam, I’m interested. Of course I need to ask why exactly the last sponsor dropped you.” Sam blushed and looked down at the table again.

                “Well uh, they don’t approve of some of the crew’s lifestyle.” Sam hoped that was a good enough explanation and the way Charlie huffed, he guessed it had. When he looked back up at Balthazar he found the man to have a large smile on his face.

                “Well it’s a fantastic thing my husband and I don’t mind different ways of life then, isn’t it?” Sam relaxed into the booth so much he made Charlie laugh out loud at him and Balthazar shook his head, looking amused, “Now, let’s talk business.”

 

                Sam spoke to Balthazar for another hour or so about the money aspects and the business side as much as he could without calling in Crowley. The two arranged a meeting the next day between Crowley, Sam, Balthazar, and the owner of the “Angel’s” chain, Gabriel Milton, just to make sure Sam hadn’t gotten anything wrong and for complete clarity.

                About twenty minutes in and Sam (now clean shaven) was starting to regret taking Balthazar up on his offer. It had nothing to do with Balthazar, or Crowley, or Castiel –Balthazar’s husband who Sam met briefly before the man had to get to his own meeting, - no; it was because of Gabriel, the obnoxious owner. Before Crowley had even sat down in the room Gabriel had hit on the man and made Crowley glare at Sam multiple times. The man was a good eight inches shorter than Sam but it didn’t stop him from freaking Sam the hell out, especially with the way he had stared at Sam from behind a cherry lollipop while he pretended to listen to what the other men in the room were discussing. His golden eyes had been glued to Sam’s figure the entire time, even as the men said their goodbyes and the shorter man winked up at Sam. It hadn’t taken Sam long to figure out that Balthazar was the one who was really in charge of the money.

                Crowley and Balthazar worked out a deal: Balthazar and Gabriel would come down to the garage and meet with the crew in order to decide if they really wanted to take the sponsorship, though Crowley reassured Sam that it was a done deal. He wasn’t looking forward to having Gabriel in the shop, the man’s presence was unnerving.

 

                The next day Sam had managed to rouse the members of his crew early just to make sure everything was in the best order it could possibly be. Dean and Ash were still covered in grease by the time the bell over the door chimed, much to Sam’s dismay. Benny, Kevin, and Garth all gave Sam reassuring smiles as he led the four men, Gabriel, Crowley, Balthazar, and Castiel, through the garage to meet each of the crew members.

                They met Bobby first, the older man having to push Crowley’s arm away from his waist again to be able to focus on what he was talking about. No matter what any of the crew member’s said or explained Gabriel looked completely unimpressed, which would have worried Sam if he wasn’t too busy trying to keep his brother from doing something utterly embarrassing to all of them, like dropping a car on Gabriel for flirting with his little brother or something.

                Not that Gabriel wasn’t attractive, he was. Sam just wasn’t into guys whose idea of flirting was to smack his ass as they passed by after knowing them less than a day, or making jokes on his height constantly, no, he was sure he could deal without the short business owner with the stupidly gorgeous smile.

                “Well boys,” Crowley clapped his hands together once they were all standing outside the garage, “this is the family operated crew that keeps Moose winning races.” Sam sighed and leaned back against the wall -he’d given up being proper the moment Balthazar smacked Gabriel upside the head for whining about the heat- and waited for the rejection.

                “Sure is a rag-tag group of misfits, isn’t it?” Gabriel had another lollipop in his mouth, Sam couldn’t tell what flavor it was but the way Castiel wrinkled his nose said it wasn’t very pleasant to be next to. Balthazar and Castiel sighed at the same time; the former rolled his eyes before smiling at Crowley.

                “If it’s all the same to you and this ‘rag-tag group of misfits’ we’ll take you up on your sponsorship. After all, Cassie studied up on your race history and it looks like a pretty nice investment.”

 

                The celebration was small, the entire crew piled into Bobby’s house for beers, laughing happily and patting each other on the back. Sam was happy to see his brother back to his normal self and relieved that the team would still have work.  Dean was a few more beers in than anyone else and was happily declaring his love for Kevin even as Benny pulled him up the stairs to their bedroom; the blue-eyed man shook his head with a chuckle. Sam wanted to head to bed next because he knew they had a lot of work to do the next day but Brady and Garth both wrapped an arm around him and pulled him into the kitchen, both refusing to let go until Sam had joined them for a round of shots.

                When Sam woke up he had Kevin wrapped around his waist and he pushed the smaller man off of him, both of the groaning at the pain movement caused. Work, Sam had work to do, so he ignored Kevin, who pulled Sam’s blankets over his head and cuddled into his pillows, and stumbled into his connecting bathroom, nearly tripping over Garth in the process. Once he was freshly showered and in a clean pair of jeans he made his way downstairs, wincing at the sounds of metal as pans hit each other in the sink. Bobby was standing at the stove and shook his head when Sam fell into a chair at the table. He walked over and placed a mug of coffee in front of Sam, “Y’know getting drunk off your asses when we have work to do the next day is not a good idea.”

                “I know,” Sam grumbled as he sipped at the coffee in his hands, normally he wouldn’t take it black but today he needed it. “I woke up with Kevin wrapped around me.”

                “Idjit refused to sleep on the floor, and he sure as hell wasn’t sharing with me.” Sam nodded, enjoying the silence for a moment, at least until several loud bangs came from the front door and he groaned again, head hitting the table. Bobby must have moved to answer the door because when he looked back up Gabriel Milton was staring at him from the other side of the table. Sam jumped in the seat just managing to catch the mug before it hit the ground. Gabriel laughed loudly which made Sam wince again.

                “What are you doing here?” Sam pressed his palms to his temples trying to relieve some of the pressure and Gabriel walked around and looked in the cabinets, shrugging.

                “Business mostly,” He smiled as whatever he was looking for caught his eye. He grabbed Sam’s mug and dumped the coffee down the sink (at which Sam totally did _not_ whine) and filled it back with water. He sat the mug and the bottle of aspirin in front of Sam and took the seat across from him. Sam gave him a thankful smile, downing a few pills and the water.

                “Mostly?”

                “Yeah, well, I also planned on seeing you half-naked and hung over, so that’s working out for me.” Sam didn’t even look down at himself, just glared at the smaller man.

                “Congratulations, now what’s the business part or is that me fully-naked, because I’m telling you, I’m too hung over right now,” Sam didn’t miss the way Gabriel’s pupils dilated even as he shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

                “That’ll have to wait until you’re not dead on your feet then,” He sighed, “but what I’m here for is design work. It’s Wednesday and your next race is Sunday right?” When Sam nodded he smiled and reached into his pocket to pull out some folded papers. Spread out on the table Sam could see that they were detailed drawings of several logo’s, all saying “Angel’s” and including a pair of angel wings but each was slightly different. “They’re not much, but they’re my logos and my restaurants and I’m supposed to make sure you promote me in a respectful and beautiful way. So I drew these up-“

                “You drew these?” Sam interrupted him. His eyes were glued to the various colors and he marveled over how beautifully drawn each pair of wings seemed to be.

                “Uh, yeah,” When Sam looked up and smiled at Gabriel he could see a pink tint on the other man’s cheeks, “They’re just quick sketches.” He dismissed the attention quickly, “But anyway, I wanted you to pick out the colors and stuff, I know your brother and that other guy need the design as soon as possible. I’m happy with whichever pair of wings, and as long as it’s not a hot pink car, I’m sure the design will look fine.” He stopped talking and Sam thought nothing of it as he studied the drawings some more, until Gabriel cleared his throat and Sam looked back up at him.

                “Oh, sorry,” Sam ducked his head, “I really like these,” He pointed out a large pair of wings, white feathers stretching around the name of the restaurant and coming down to a point with the tips touching, “We could keep the wings white, make the name of the restaurant a bold black and paint the car blue. Cobalt Blue.”

                Gabriel smiled and seemed to relax in his chair, “Blue sounds good, just don’t fuck around and make my name ugly, ‘kay kiddo?” Sam rolled his eyes.

                “I’ll make sure Dean knows to make it crooked and misspelled.” Gabriel pouted even as Sam laughed at him.

 

                “We can have the car done by tomorrow afternoon and Kevin says the new suits will be in Friday night,” Ash kicked his feet up on a workbench in the garage; Dean was in the next room tracing out the paint patterns. “He’s upset about the fact we had to pay extra to get them made so quickly but I assured him it was cool.”

                Sam breathed out heavily, “Thanks man, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

                “Probably some lame ass desk job,” Ash waved to him as he left the garage. Outside Sam ran immediately into a smaller body, he reached out on instinct and caught Gabriel by the arm as he stumbled back. Gabriel huffed and crossed his arms.

                “Really Sasquatch, there are nicer ways to get your hands on me, mowing me over is not one that I would prefer.” Sam dropped his arms back to his side and frowned down at Gabriel.

                “I’ll make sure to keep that in mind, any reason you’re here again? You just left Bobby’s this morning.” As soon as Gabriel had left, after sketching out the finished idea, Sam had gone to wake Dean, making sure he had the new logo for the car so he could get to work on it as soon as they got to the garage. 

                “Balthy made me take the day off because he said I’ve got too many sick days acquired and I had to use one,” Gabriel kicked a rock at his feet, “Which is bullshit because it’s my restaurant so I should be the one in charge of those things but I can’t fight that British fuck, especially when he calls his husband to lecture me. So what else was I supposed to do but come bug my newest eye-candy? I got lucky too, this is the first placed I’ve looked and I’ve already found you.”

                “It’s midafternoon, why is he kicking you out now?”

                “Only open for dinner on weekdays Sammy, get with the program.” Gabriel turned and walked away from Sam back to his car. He paused at the driver’s side door and called over his shoulder, “Are you coming with me or what?”

                “I didn’t realize I was being asked to go anywhere.” Even as he said it he was already headed toward the car, willing to go out with Gabriel if this was his chance.

                “Wasn’t really a question in the matter, we’re going out,” Gabriel waited until Sam was buckled before he drove out of the lot and Sam didn’t really mind where they were headed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I've been slacking, but I'm getting back into man.

 

                The outing with Gabriel was certainly interesting, at least that’s the word Sam would use if he’d been asked how the day went. As it was, no one knew they had even gone anywhere so he didn’t have to describe the day. The two of them went out for lunch and then to a local flea market; it wasn’t what either of them would have called a date, so they didn’t. That was a few days ago, though, and while Gabriel was at his restaurant preparing meals with his chefs, Sam was going 200 miles an hour around a track in a freshly painted car.

                It was Saturday and Sam was finishing up his last qualifying lap. He hated qualifying races, there was no point to them and lacked the same adrenaline he felt during the actual races. Pulling off his helmet he shook out his hair and laughed when Dean punched him in the shoulder for getting sweat on him. He unzipped his suit and pulled his arms out of it, catching the bottle of water as it was tossed to him.

                “Congrats kid, we’re likely to have qualified at the top for our championship race,” Rufus agreed with Bobby as the two told the crew what to start putting back up so they could get everything ready for the race the next day. Sam tripped forward as Ash jumped onto his back and Garth ran into his side.

                “Yeah, and we’ll try to win as long as I’m not broken in half in the next twelve hours,” He adjusted his hold on Ash’s legs as the man laughed on his back.

 

                The next day was a blur of last minute details that had most of the crew running ragged, except for Benny and Kevin who had their feet kicked up on the pit fence. They were watching the rest of the guys finish prepping and both laughed as Garth tripped over Jo and sprawled into Brady. Sam pulled the older guy away from the fight before it happened-Brady had a short fuse-and handed Garth to Bobby on his way to suit up.

                Gabriel was supposed to be up in the VIP booth before the race started, but he was bored. The actual sport bored him (wasn’t it just a couple dozen car driving around in a circle for _hours?_ ) and he decided he’d rather be somewhere more entertaining. Getting down where the crews were was simple, he was a sponsor and crew chiefs loved having sponsors around, they thought there was a chance for their teams to get more sponsors, too bad for them Gabriel was only giving his money to Sam’s group of car-enthusiasts. It totally had nothing to do with the six-foot-four dimpled smile parading around as a NASCAR driver, not at all. He saw Jo first and waved to the blonde as she smiled at him.

                “They’ve got the line-up completed, what are you doing down here? The race is about to start,” her voice was louder than normal and Gabriel pointed at his ear, she flushed and pulled her headset down around her neck, “Sorry, gotta wear these things, it gets loud down here.”

                “I can imagine,” Gabriel nodded to the crowds behind and around them, most of the smart ones had earplugs in, “You got an extra set? The VIP box was pretty lame.” Jo smiled and grabbed his sleeve; she pulled him over to where Rufus was sitting at the headset controls and pulled out an extra pair from the box to give to Gabriel. Rufus gave him a hard look for a moment before he laughed and told him to ‘make sure you don’t take those off, if you wanna hear anything for the next week’ Gabriel promised he would.

                A few moments after having his headset put on Rufus flipped a switch on the side and he could hear the other crewmembers talking to each other. Dean was trying to get Garth to stop messing with the sun visors, apparently it wasn’t usually Garth’s job but the crew had shifted a little, and Ash was reading numbers off to Bobby, technical stuff Gabriel couldn’t understand. Then Sam’s voice cut through, “Hey Dean, I’ve got under two minutes before the green light, could you not yell over the speaker when I’m trying to focus here?”

                His voice was calm but Gabriel could hear the nervous excitement in it. All at once he was reminded that Sam was out on that track, in a car with his business on it, preparing to risk life and limb in an adrenaline filled race. Gabriel felt his heartbeat speed up and went to find a place to stay out of the way but where he could still see the race.

 

                Sam’s grip tightened on the steering wheel as he listened to his crew members’ call out final readings and taking safety checks all the way up until Bobby told them to quiet down because it was race time. Sam zoned them out in favor of watching the track ahead of him. He had five hundred laps at least until this race was over, that was not including caution laps. The rolled his shoulders and set his foot on the clutch, ready to go.

 

                At a hundred laps in Gabriel was still amazed as he listened to Bobby guide Sam as to where the other drivers were. Something about teams flew through his headset and he heard Dean comment that they’d need a whole lot more money and crew members before they could do something like that, because other teams didn’t really want to partner with them. It wasn’t anything he understood but he was enjoying being back here more than he would have enjoyed being up in the VIP booth with Balthazar and all the other rich sponsor people. When Sam came in for a pit stop during a caution is when the headset got the loudest, Dean barked orders out to the others to get the tank filled and replace the back tires, Sam called for Garth to attach the blinds, and Jo whined at Benny when he rolled her tire away for her because she could have done it herself.

 

                Two hundred laps in and Sam could feel the adrenaline in his body thrumming under his skin as he passed just inches away from another car to claim the third place spot. Ahead of him were the first and second place cars but there were no holes to get around either of them so he stayed back behind them to watch as they pulled ahead of each other and then fell back as they went around curves. He was so focused on the two in front of him he almost missed Bobby telling him to watch his right side. The car he had just passed came up beside him, not to pass, he realized as another car came up behind him. He swore into his mic, “Bobby, I’m screwed here.”

                “I see it boy,” the older man sighed, “Those two are team partners, they’re going to try and knock you out of your spot, don’t overcorrect.” Sam told him he wouldn’t, but adjusted his fingers on the steering wheel as he shifted the car to the left as the car on his right creeped up on his side.

                It was in the third turn when the car behind him hit the gas as Sam braked and the impact sent Sam forward in his seat. His foot slammed on the brake before he hit the wall beside him but the car to his right clipped the side of his bumper and sent him into a spin. He barely registered the sound of his crew chief telling him not to slam the brake as his foot hit it in an attempt to slow the car’s spin. He heard his brother curse at him through his headset, but then it seemed to become distorted as the movement around him slowed. His head whipped sideways as the car turned full circle to face the wrong way and he saw the other cars swerve to get out of his way. His side hit the door as his world tilted around him; the feeling of floating made his stomach turn before he felt the side of the car hit the asphalt. He heard the sickening sound of glass shattering and a shriek as the metal of his car bent around him. The dulled mumbles of his team members were lost as Sam’s head jerked back against the headrest as the car landed finally back on its four wheels. Sam blinked as the lights of the medic vehicle stopped in front of him and let his eyes fall shut to the sound of screaming voices.

 

                Gabriel sat in the waiting room at the hospital with the majority of Sam’s crew, Garth asleep on his shoulder and Kevin shifting nervously on his other side. Bobby and Dean were back where Sam’s doctors were talking about what all was being done to make sure Sam woke up. They had all left the racetrack a soon as Sam was loaded into the ambulance, Dean riding with him, and had been in the hospital for at least five hours and Gabriel was just glad the tears had stopped. Brady and Rufus stayed back at the racetrack to make sure everything got packed up correctly and the totaled car got sent back to the garage instead of being sent to an impound lot to be destroyed.

                Gabriel sat up in his seat as Bobby came back into the waiting room scratching his beard and mumbling. Garth started awake as Gabriel shifted and nearly slid out of his seat. Jo stood and moved to Bobby, wrapping an arm around his waist and asking him what was going on, Gabriel leaned forward in his chair to hear what his answer was. Bobby sighed, “Sam’s still unconscious, but the doctors say it’s better that he is, he broke a few bones in the crash and the bruising on his head makes them worry about how hard he hit his head. They’re monitoring him right now.” Jo frowned but nodded and after a quick hug with Bobby went back to her seat next to Ash; she gripped his hand and leaned against his shoulder. Bobby went to leave the room again but paused and looked directly at Gabriel, “What are you still doing here?”

                “Am I not supposed to be?” Gabriel asked honestly confused, “I’m worried about him too.”

                “Didn’t expect you to be,” Bobby shrugged, and then waved a hand at the door, “All of you should go back to the hotel and get some sleep, okay? I don’t need a bunch of zombies wandering around. It’s bad enough Dean won’t leave the room, you people get out of here.” Not the type of people to argue with Bobby, Ash, Jo, Garth, and Kevin got up to leave with tired goodbyes sent in his direction. Benny stood with his arms crossed by the door and Bobby pointed a finger at him, “That boy isn’t leaving his brother’s side and you can’t stay in there with him, so go get him some clean clothes, he’s gonna start to smell bad.”

                Despite the rigidity of his shoulders Benny let out a chuckle, “Sounds like Dean, stubborn as hell. Sam, too,” he added right after and with a nod was out the door behind the others. Gabriel made to follow them out but was stopped by Bobby’s gruff voice.

                “Kid you better know what you’re doing gettin’ involved with Sam.”

                Gabriel’s eyes widened, “I’m not-“

                “I don’t wanna hear that,” Bobby shook his head, “I can see it on that goofy face o’ yours.”

                “Is this your version of the ‘hurt my boy and I’ll kill you’ speech? Aren’t we a little old for that?” Bobby glared at Gabriel’s joking expression and the shorter man rocked back on his heels to put a little distance between them.

                “I could kill you now if you’d prefer it, I don’t have a preference.” Gabriel shook his head slowly and gave Bobby a strained smile.

                “I think I’m good,” He backed closer to the door and pointed behind him at it, “I think I’m just gonna go.” With a nod from Bobby Gabriel was out of the hospital as quick as he could.

 

                Three days later Sam was back at home, and other than a few minor broken bones, completely fine. He seemed to be the only one worried about when he would get to race again. Whenever he brought it up around Dean he was told to drop it, and everyone else seemed to agree with him, despite whatever Sam had to say. He’d only been home for a day but he was already on the verge of punching his brother in the face with his good hand and smacking him with the cast on the other.

                “Is the car even worth rebuilding? We can get a new one,” Sam tried to walk around Dean to get into the garage but the older brother was planted firmly in front of the closed door.

                “No.” That didn’t answer his question.

                “Why can’t I see it? What’s so important?”

                “Because you’re not getting behind that wheel again,” Dean’s voice overpowered Sam, “Not until you’re healed and we fix what went wrong.”

                Sam took a step back and shook his head disbelievingly. “You can’t do that, Dean. This is what I love to do. This is my job.”

                The door behind Dean opened and Jo stuck her head out, “Sorry to interrupt but Ash needs Dean in here.” When she shut the door behind her Dean looked at his brother and shrugged, moving to follow behind her and completely ignore Sam even when he tried to push in after Dean. Sam slammed his good fist into the metal of the door when it clicked behind Dean. Locked out, he spent a good ten minutes kicking at the dirt and grumbling about the unfairness of the situation.

                After around twenty minutes, Sam gave up hoping that the door would open again, he made the short walk back to Bobby’s house. At the edge of the yard he could see someone standing on the porch but he didn’t pause, walking up the steps and stopping to look down at Gabriel, who looked more than a little confused. “What are you doing here?”

                The shorter man flinched slightly at the volume of Sam’s voice, “I heard you were home, and I wanted to check on you.”

                Sam studied him for a moment then pushed passed him to open the door and motion him inside, “Why does it matter? Checking up on your money?”

                Gabriel paused in the doorway and sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, “I don’t give a shit about the money, and my business gets enough attention without you risking your life. Now, what’s got your panties all in a twist, Winchester?”

                “Nothing,” Sam continued to ignore him and went into the kitchen to grab a few beers. He handed one to Gabriel as he walked by before dropping onto the couch and turning the TV on to ignore everything around him. Gabriel plopped onto the couch opposite of him so he could kick his legs into his lap. He gave Sam a few moments of silence where they both drank their beers and Gabriel watched Sam’s face.

                “Tell me who pulled your piggy-tails, kiddo; I’ll steal their lunch money for you.” Sam mumbled for him to fuck-off and pushed his legs off of his lap. Gabriel shifted onto his knees and poked Sam’s cheek, “How about I murder them violently?”

                A glare, “It’s not even a big deal, so drop it.”

                “Angry is a good look on you,” Gabriel brushed a hair off of Sam’s face and grinned when Sam continued to glare at him, “It’s dangerous and I like it.”

                Sam stared at him for a few more moments until something in his expression softened. He sighed and dropped his head back against the couch, “It doesn’t matter. I’m not even allowed in the garage.”

                “You’re cryin’ because you don’t get to see the pile of metal your car is? I don’t feel sorry for you,” Gabriel dropped back onto his heels but he was still smiling as Sam went back to glaring at him.

                “It’s not that, really, it’s just,” Sam dropped the thought with a shake of his head. “Forget it; I’m more mad at myself anyway.”

                Gabriel frowned at how defeated Sam looked and decided he liked the anger way more than the self-loathing. He started humming a song and reached out to run his fingers through Sam’s hair. The larger man jerked away and stared at him but Gabriel just leaned forward to continue playing with his hair. Sam stopped moving away and sat completely still until he recognized the song Gabriel was humming and leaned just slightly into his hand. Gabriel smiled to himself as Sam relaxed.

                “Didn’t know Stairway to Heaven could actually be relaxing,” Gabriel hummed quietly in agreement but went back to the song, “Why are you doing this?”

                “I don’t see you complaining,” Gabriel laughed when Sam swatted at him.

 

                When Sam woke up it was because hitting the floor was not comfortable at all. He groaned and pushed himself into a sitting position. A foot kicked against the back of his skull and he yelped and reached back to smack the leg behind him. Gabriel whined and curled in on himself. Sam just ignored him and got up from the floor. He stumbled into the kitchen and hissed when he accidentally smacked his cast against the wall. He had just made his cup of coffee when Gabriel came stumbling in and bumped him out of the way of the coffee pot. Without thinking about it Sam caught himself by wrapping an arm around Gabriel’s waist. The shorter man said nothing about it though and actually leaned into the touch. Sam blinked and stood there until Gabriel finished making his coffee and walked back out of the kitchen.

                “What time is it?” Sam shuffled back to the couch and rubbed his face and shrugged. He looked up at the clock over the mantle and groaned.

                “It’s barely six AM,” the man beside him laughed and pushed back into the couch.

                “It’s not that bad,” he yawned, “We slept for well over twelve hours.”

                Sam placed his half-empty cup on the table beside the couch and stood from the couch. Gabriel asked where he was going but he just waved his question off and walked around the corner. He came back just a moment later and stood in the doorway, “you wanna go back to bed, or you wanna wake up?”

                Gabriel stared at him for a moment, “what are you offering?”

                Sam looked down at the floor and shrugged again, “the couch killed my neck, but my beds pretty big.”

                He smiled and stood from the couch too, “See, if you wanted me in your bed all you had to do was ask.” Sam ignored the comment and walked up the stairs to his room and kicked his jeans off before falling onto the bed and pulling the blanket around him. When Gabriel didn’t join him he picked his head up to see the older guy staring at him, he patted the blanket and laid back down.

                “Take the jeans off, those cannot be comfortable.”

                He heard the shuffling of fabric then the blanket moved as Gabriel got into the bed. They were silent for about five minutes before Sam rolled over onto his back and sighed. There was a laugh, “it might have been easier to sleep if we hadn’t had that coffee.”

                Sam rolled over again so that his arm was thrown around Gabriel’s waist to try and get comfortable, “Shut up, it’ll wear off in like ten minutes.” He laughed again but didn’t complain anymore.

 

                The door to the room opening woke Gabriel up and he blinked at the light from the hallway. Dean stood there with his arms crossed but he started laughing when he saw the two people on the bed. Gabriel tried to roll over to ignore him back realized he was basically pinned to the mattress by Sam’s arms and his legs were tangled with his. Gabriel poked his face, which was press in the pillow beside his head. Sam jumped and both of them flailed, which made Dean laugh even harder. He was bent over in the doorway with his hands on his knees, “That’s fuckin’ priceless. I came up here to congratulate you for moving from the couch, but this is so much better.”

                “What time is it?” Gabriel stared at Sam’s nonchalance.

                “It’s after noon,” Dean turned and closed the door behind him after telling them to put their pants on and come down to the garage. Sam yawned and sat up, pulling the blanket off the bed with him and making Gabriel shiver.

                “Do you need some clothes?” Sam stripped his shirt over his head and Gabriel tracked the movement of his muscles for a few moments until Sam turned around, a pair of pants unbuttoned around his hips and raised an eyebrow at him, “You’re gonna sit there for a while then?”

                Gabriel was hit in the face with a blue and black button-up, “I’m getting up.” Once they were both dressed again, and with Gabriel complaining about Sam’s shirts being too big, they left the house to make the walk to the garage. “Sam,” Gabriel looked drowned in the flannel on his torso, “it’s too hot to walk.”

                “It’s not even a ten-minute walk,” the taller man laughed as Gabriel flailed his arms around and nearly smacked himself in the face with the sleeves. “It’s right there.”

                At the sight of the building, Gabriel’s steps sped up and Sam continued laughing at how ridiculous he looked. Gabriel flicked him off and ignored him until he was at the door and it had been opened by Jo. She looked at both of them and then focused on Gabriel’s shirt and shook her head, “I don’t really want to know. Your brother is excited and I need you to hurry up and make him stop vibrating before Benny throws him out a window.”

                “Wouldn’t be the first time,” Sam scooted past Jo into the garage with a quick kiss to her cheek. She pulled Gabriel in by his collar so she could close the door behind him. Both of them followed behind Sam into the main room of the garage. Standing in the middle of the floor was Dean, pacing back and forth between two covered cars. He stopped when Sam entered the room and grinned at his little brother.

                “Okay, I know we kicked you out of the garage yesterday.”

                “Don’t count me in that ‘we’ Winchester, that was all you,” Ash kicked off the back wall in his rolling-chair to get to a desk half-way across the room and saluted when he rolled by Gabriel.

                “Fine,” Dean tucked his hands into his pockets, “I locked you out because we were working to finish these before you saw them.”

                Sam gasped when the tarps were pulled off the cars. Sitting there was his car in perfect condition. Its blue paint shined brightly and he had the intense urge to hug his car. It almost made him not realize the replica of his car sitting next to it; painted in the inverted colors of his car, a black with a cobalt blue pair of angel wings across the hood. Sam ran his fingers across the edge of the wings and smiled when he saw Gabriel tracing the name of his restaurant on the other car. “They’re beautiful,” Dean smiled happily, as did everyone else in the room, “but, why are there two?”

                “We got you a partner,” Sam stared at his brother before grabbing him in a hug and lifting him off the ground. Dean laughed loudly as Sam sat him back down on the ground and shook his head, “aren’t you gonna ask who it is?”

                Sam paused and nodded, “Who did you get? Because they have to be qualified and go through tests and be approved and-“

                “Sam,” Jo laughed and cut him off, “we’ve been working on this a lot longer than you think we have.”

                Ash got out of his chair, threw his arm around Sam’s waist, and pointed to the black car, “I’m happy to say that I am your newest partner in crime.” Ash patted him on the back when he was picked up like Dean had been before. 


End file.
